Packing gear away

Spent today packing stuff away and parking the boat for a while.  We now have to go onto Cairns for another comitment, and so the ghost dog blog will be suspended for a while pending our return to the boat.  Watch this space for more action in 2-3 weeks

Return to Airlie Beach

Departed mid morning and travelled south past Cid Island and into Whitsunday passage but becalmed ; no wind, not a breath, flat calm, glassy sea; could water ski anywhere.  A copy of the DVD ‘becalmed’ would now be good.  However our reliable diesel helped make the distance around the south end of Sth Molle island, and picked up a mooring at Lovers Cove on the NW side of Daydream Island.  Time spent snorkeling on the reef there, and hand feeding several of the large reef fish, 2-3 feet in length, and clustering around the stern looking for handouts.  A great afternoon of R&R before casting off and sailing around the point and picking up the rented mooring in Airlie Beach just before another magnificent sunset.

Becalmed...!

Yet another lovely day in paradise.  Daparted late morning, but there wasn’t much sailing, less than 2 knts of wind, almost becalmed, but the motor helped us out today and we moved over to Sawmill Bay where we met Bob Reeves, a colleague from CYAV, and had a big happy hour with his crowd on their yacht (much bigger than ours) so now back on board feeling a bit more merry than usual, and trying to tackle the construction of a meal.  As stated earlier, another lovely day in paradise…!

Moving on...

Today, 20^th June, was an interesting one.  Another lovely day with warm sun and mild breezes, we sailed mid-morning out into Whitsunday passage, stooged around for a while and finished up at the end of Nara inlet again; a favourite that never fails to please.
Before we left, a chartered catamaran, on the adjacent mooring departed right on low tide, but drove hard straight over the well-marked coral reef that was next to us, and went hard aground just next to the isolated danger mark.  The two couples on board from Chicago were at a bit of a loss, so assisted them and they were on their way in 15 mins.  Then later on arrival in Nara, I discovered why the bilge on GD was always full over the last two days:  the port water tank had emptied itself into the bilge and I had been dutifully pumping it all out.  Of course the starboard one was already empty, having been used first.  Fortunately Nara has a lovely fresh waterfall at the end – see the post a couple of weeks back – so was able to fill some containers with lovely fresh water and make it all good.
The remainder of the afternoon was a play afternoon but only after fixing the tank problem, which was a silly one and our own fault, followed by the usual happy hour and gourmet hamburgers with the lot…!

These pictures show breakfast BLT's in the cockpit after departure, yet another remote beach to explore, and a snap taken by H whilst underway.

And in the Nation's Capital....

I whipped up some cupcakes for the little Ladies' afternoon tea.....



(Some one told me sugar is a great substitute for vitamins in this sickly house)

Cub Expedition to Phillip Island

Meanwhile, back in the real world where people work most days and the weather is crudtastic, the Cubs went to Phillip Island for a weekend camp.

and back at Whitehaven...

G

From famous Whitehaven Beach

The last few days

 

Snorkelling on the reef in Butterfly Bay, sunrise over Tongue point, and Hill inlet lookout

How to travel to the beach at Whitehaven

Interesting to see how some people get there: seems most have a few more $ than us.

back in range...!

On 14th June, there was settled weather, and that means that the outer islands called again.  Departed Nara and sailed through Hook passage, which was something like a mini-Port Philip Rip, then turned south.  However both wind and tide made progress slow and tedious, but eventually made it into Tongue bay on the eastern side of Whitsunday Island.  A sheltered and quiet anchorage.  A turtle came close by to visit us, and went ashore on tongue point, fantastic scenery, and the claim to be ‘very photogenic’ seems justified.  Culinary pleasures continued.

15^th June
Wx continues to be good, and after another excursion ashore, headed further south.  Again, the Whitehaven sirens called us and we anchored about half way down the length, and sometimes from the boat, sometimes from the beach, watched the seaplanes, helicopters, and huge fancy gin-palace power boats bring the rich for their time on the famous snowy white sands.  End of the day after all the tourist boats left, we moved the last couple of miles to the sheltered southern end for the night.

16^th June
Remained all morning in this idyllic & iconic beach, mainly because we had it to ourselves – entirely alone – amazing and first time this has occurred here, but not arguing.  Departed lunch time with the arrival of other people on boats, and sailed north, back into Tongue bay for a relaxing play afternoon, watching turtles around the bay, a happy hour which included our own bruschetta, and yet another lovely quiet evening.

17^th June
After a quiet night and a splendid dawn with the sun rising over Tongue point, the morning was spent exploring the tracks through Tongue point and over into Hill Inlet.  The lookout there is amazing, and walking the beach at the mouth of Hill inlet in warm calm sun was wonderful.  Sailed late morning with the tide along the eastern side of the islands all the way to the northern-most point and into Butterfly bay.  Good visibility in the water, low tide, and good extensive coral reefs led to us both enjoying a long snorkel session, followed by the usual happy hour and another culinary masterpiece.

18^th June
Still clear and sunny, with stronger winds today, but no concerns on a mooring in this lovely sheltered spot.   To avoid the currents however, left at the change of tide and moved around to Stonehaven on the western side of Hook Island and within range of the mainland for signal and posting of this blog.

Time now has lost much of its meaning, the days are blending one into the next, losing all track of time, days or even months; weekends mean zip.  If it were not for the weather schedules (which occur at specific times and give dates), I would be unaware of any of that.  It will be difficult indeed to reverse this later when returning to ‘civilisation’

Under a Blood Red Moon

Got up a little earlier to watch the Lunar eclipse in which the moon turn blood red: Red Sky in morning, Sailors take warning!

Macona Inlet

The weather finally became fine, and we awoke to a clear blue sky, warm and with moderate breeze.  Departed the marina mid morning after completing the last minute stuff, and sailed over to Macona inlet, where the dive compressor was put to some good use again, although warily as its recorded as a hammerhead shark breeding ground.  It’s a little open and less protected there, so late afternoon, up anchored again and motored around the corner into Nara for the night, because of the lovely shelter it affords.   A great day of sailing, a shy reach on eone single tack all the way over, and glad to be back “out there”.  Once again H displays superb culinary skills in the galley, always amazing.

Here we are departing the marina and Airlie Beach heading out again.